Tuesday, October 12, 2010

73 days til....

73 days until Christmas.

SERIOUS?!! Oh my gosh, I gotta get going.

One thing to cross off my "To Do List"....make a homemade advent calendar!

I {love} this new Advent Calendar Kit that we released to Joanns stores this month!!! (I am getting new stacks sightings across the country so I know if your store hasn't gotten the new Christmas stacks yet, they will any day!!)

You should be able to find this kit with the Christmas stacks and embellishments. And the best part, the retail price on it is $9.99!! So if you snag it with a coupon or during a sale, it is an AWESOME gift at a steal of a deal!

Here is everything you get...it comes with a great instructions sheet too. I did mine a little different from the instructions so you can see a little variety....

The only thing I substituted from the kit was the ribbon to hang the board together. You receive plenty of ribbon to use what is given, but I wanted to use a thicker red so I used some from my stash.

I inked the edges of my pockets before I put them together and attached them to the board. And in the kit you get TONS of chipboard pieces and die cuts to embellish the board. I used all of my number pieces and probably had HALF of my embellishments left!!

I think I will fill my pockets with 2 pieces of candy so the boys can have a treat to look forward to.

I love all of the glittered chipboard pieces! I hope we continue to do fun kits like this in the future!! And with the retail price of ten bucks, I know this will be a hit!!!

What other things could I fill my countdown pockets with?? Give me some ideas in the comments! I love hearing from you!!

Oh my goodness this is an adorable advent calendar, I can't believe how inexpensive!!! Really?I have got to make some of these for my mothers nursing home room and her friends- how perfect and I think I will fill with candy, because they all need a little pick me up.Are these out in the stores already?

I love this advent, the pockets are perfect. YOU could make up family coupons for things like a movie night just with mom or fishing with dad. Trip to the zoo, etc. well I think you get the idea. I have older children and that would be what I put in the little pockets. I cant wait until these are available at other stores. Dont have a Joanns here in Canada :((

super cute!!!! love it, I never did an advant calendar before... might have to add this to the "to-do" list. as for what to put in it... maybe coupons for a hug & kiss, read an extra book @ bed time, go for an evening walk after dinner, bake some cookies...(ya know together time) hope that gave ya some more ideas. Hugs, Staci

I would fill the pockets with special activities to do. This would give the kids some fun memories of family time at Christmas. Maybe reading a special story book, or sleeping under the tree with the lights on, or playing a favorite game by the fireplace.

Love this! Is this kit available in Canada? You could make each day a part of a scavenger hunt with a new hint/riddle each day to figure out, all relative to an extra-special gift to be received on the 25th.

You could put gift cards in the pockets.. movie passes etc.. but it would make it pretty pricey!

My 13 year old told me all he wants for Christmas is money.. this would be a cool way to provide him with all his presents in one package... and rather than using it as a countdown.. he could just open up 25 little packages.

Or maybe I could split it into two and give my children two, 12 pocket gifts.

Love the advent calender! I'll have to keep an eye out!! I am actively teaching my kids the "real" Christmas so I'd put in parts of the Christmas story in each pocket (think the boy with the advent calender from Bad Santa). A little of the story would be in each pocket so by Christmas, you've read the complete story.

I have made several advent calendars. I am making a new one this year and I love this kit. I already have Luke 2 and various Christmas Carols broken up into 25 sections to put into the calendar. Let me know if you want the file. :)

I love this kit!!! I can not WAIT to get it!!!! I was looking at another kit that cost much more, wasn't as cute and looked like it entailed a lot more work! Candy is a great idea for the advent calendar, perhaps money too...so my kids can decided what to do w/it....donate to the church, donate to hungry people, buy a small gift for needy kids. We give a lot to those who need, just like Jesus does.

Love this advent calendar kit, it has so much in it. I would add vouchers for treats, kids love to get those. Another thing I have done when mine were young is add a ticket to show where to find a hidden gift, always good to keep them entertained.Kim xXx

GREAT idea! How about "to do's" . . i.e. Today we will take cookies to a neighbor; today we will sing "Jingle Bells" 10 times; today we will walk the block and count the C'mas trees in windows; today we will drink egg nog or hot cider; today we will bake cookies. . . etc. Tailor it to your family's abilities and circumstances! This 'could' go along with little treats as well, to be eaten while doing the 'task?'

My boys are at the age where they like baseball and football cards. They even have some for my daughter that are horses. One pack could last a couple of days. Very cute, I may have to snag up one of these. Thanks for sharing.

Very cute kit! I was at my Joann's this past weekend and saw some of that new Christmas/Winter paper... love it! But, I did not see this kit or any embellishments... WAHHHHH!!!!I'll have to look online I guess.Thanks for sharing!

I picked this up at JoAnns on sale yesterday and got it for $5.99!! What a wonderful kit!! Love it! I am going to have my 2 kids write 25 seperate things they like about eachother and place them into the pockets so everyday they will pull out and read what the other one likes about them! I hope you guys make more kits like this and maybe even a 12x12 year calender kit with die cuts and chipboard pieces! Thanks!!

Finally was able to head to Jo-Ann's and get mine!! So excited to start working on it!! What a GREAT kit!! And I got it for $5.99 with the coupons available this week :) I am one happy girl :) I will be using gold coins, little candy canes, quarters and a variety of things to make each day different!! Can't wait to use it year after year!! And at that price, what a great gift to give!!

My JoAnns did not have the kit when I visited a few weeks ago, so I made this advent calendar from scratch over the past couple of weekends, OK I made two as gifts. I altered the pattern a bit to make a wider pocket for each day, so pieces of candy will fit. Since the calendars are geared towards little ones (2 1/2 and 3 1/2 year olds) I'm also adding a tag with ideas for each day that they can do with their Mom's and Dad's throughout the holiday season. I'm really liking how they turned out.